


Everything Will Be Alright - Short Story

by PantasticPanic



Category: Original Work
Genre: 1312, ACAB, BLM, Black Lives Matter, Magical Realism, Other, Song - Freeform, everything will be alright, protest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25735543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PantasticPanic/pseuds/PantasticPanic
Summary: Justice Will Be Served. BLM. ACAB.
Relationships: Original Male Character(s)/Original Non-Binary Character(s), Simon Hart/Lylo Fielder
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Everything Will Be Alright - Short Story

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains depictions of racial violence and murder. If you are triggered or uncomfortably with these topics, this work is most likely not for you. This was a school project that was centered around the theme of Magical Realism, but with everything going on in the world, I decided doing a social injustice peace was appropriate.  
> Before you begin, I must say. While I may be gender non-conforming, I am white. I cannot speak for the black community and their struggles, nor can I compare them with my own. I attempted to make this story as focused as I could on the issue at hand. If this fact offends you in any shape or form, please leave a comment. I am willing and able to take this down if someone feels it's not a topic for me to write about.  
> Without further adieu, please continue.

Eyelashes fluttering reminded me of existence. Reminded me I must open my eyes. Reminded me I must face the world. Something wanted me to keep them closed, but a firm grasp of another hand on my own and the calling of my name overrode that sensation.

“Lylo?”

I was greeted with honey skin and bright green eyes that seemed to leap into my heart and grasp it. Wavy black hair stemmed from his scalp and I wanted to run my fingers through it like I couldn’t believe it was real. A small smile adorned his lips, and god, his lips. He looked beautiful. Then again, he always looked beautiful.

“Simon.”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” he smirked at his own joke, and once more I wanted to grab his chin and push our lips together. “You okay? You seem kinda out of it. You wanna go back home?”

“No!” I declared with utmost urgency, like I needed to be there that day or I would never hear his voice as smooth as whipped cream again. “...No, let’s go. Please.”

“Okay..” his voice held a wariness and I wanted to chase it away, wanted it to run from him and never return.

I was forgetting something.

_Hold on, just a little while longer._

Something important.

_Hold on, just a little while longer._

I’d probably remember it later.

Simon continued to drag me along, down Broadway and towards the Wicked theatre. A street vendor called his name and his smile widened as he called back and waved.

“Keeping that partner of yours on a leash?” their words held no malice, only liveliness.

“I keep them in line!” he joked again, doing a fake salute in the vendor's direction. I couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle, the weight of something forgotten slowly fading in the presence of the warm light of Simon.

_Hold on, just a little while longer._

“Remember that night?” Simon asked, pulling on my sleeve as I walked up to his side and pointing up at the Wicked sign. “The one where you were so determined to make me like musicals and it ended up working?”

_Everything will be alright._

I purred at the memory and nodded. “Clearly. I’m glad I got you addicted.”

“I’m not the one who’s addicted.” he pouted.

_Everything will be alright._

Continuing this seemingly pointless adventure, he led me to Time Square, laughing as the cosplayers tried to get pictures with children. He leaned against me and I could swear I could have heard his beating heart, felt every muscle movement, like I knew him best in the world. His smile was intoxicating and made it difficult to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. It felt so surreal, under the lights illuminating the dark of the setting sun. Like there was no way anything could challenge this feeling.

_Fight on, just a little while longer._

“Okay, are we going to go to our actual destination, or are you gonna keep distracting me?” I quired, pulling him in a bit tighter.

“You sure you wanna go now? We’re in no rush.” he smiled, tilting his head up to meet my eyes. God, those eyes.

“Yeah. I wanna see you on the grass. The green looks good on you.”

He laughed a laugh like chocolate before softly pressing his lips against mine, making out noses meet. “You look better on me.”

_Fight on, just a little while longer._

A quick tug and we were off again, heading in the direction of Central. Even before we entered, I saw a child playing with his dad, tossing a football back and forth. Clearly, the dad wanted the child home, but his kid was having none of it.

What was it about that football? Why did it seem to shift in his hands?

Shift into something silver and round. Like a canister.

_Fight on, just a little while longer._

“You sure you’re fine?” His eyes seemed to peer into my very soul, as I slowly felt an urge returning.

“I think I have somewhere to be after this, but I can’t really remember where.”

“Oh, I know what you mean.”

_Everything will be alright._

I glanced in his direction, a little shocked. “You do?”

“Come on, let’s sit down.”

_Everything will be alright._

Simon raced ahead, his laugh beginning to fill the air again as he collapsed onto the ground, rolling down a small hill. I felt my own smile returning as I began to chase him, sliding down the hill and wrapping my arms around the now grass covered man I loved.

Loved.

Loved.

Loved.

And in a second, everything was back. Everything.

The blood that pooled in my arms as I desperately begged the officer to call an ambulance, the feeling of absolute terror as I slowly saw that light fading from his eyes, the single gunshot that would haunt my ears for the rest of my life.

Everything I desperately wanted to throw away as a weird flash of nothing, but everything that I knew wasn’t.

Seemingly frozen, we both sat up, me following his every move, taking in his every breath, his every twitch, his every freckle and feature. The smile melted off my face and water began dripping down my face despite it not raining. I quickly reached out and grasped his hand in mine, holding on for dear life.

“Aww, baby.”

He reached up and wiped the liquid off my face with his thumb, returning his hand to support him on the ground.

 _Sing on, just a little while longer._ A flash of thousands of people filled my vision, signs held over their heads as police lined a barrier.

“We’ve still got a bit of time.”

Silently I reached up and used both my hand to clasp his face, trying desperately to remember every detail. Trying to cling to the beauties and trying to forget the emptiness.

“How do I do this?” I sobbed softly, slowly bowing my head into his chest. “How do I- how do I win against a system that won’t listen?”

His arms wrapped around me in a tight hug, a wordless comfort that I quickly returned, weaving my arms under his and grasping at the fabric on the back of his jacket.

“You keep fighting.” he whispered, seemingly managing to hold on tighter.

“You show the world that you will be listened to.”

“But what if-”

“Don’t think about that right now. One step at a time. You’ve got a full generation behind you, remember that.”

_Sing on, just a little while longer._

I felt a finger be placed under my chin and raised my head. Once again I met his unhollow eyes. His green eyes that shone brighter than the sun and the star combined. I couldn’t take it anymore and pressed my own eyes closed.

“I don’t wanna go.” I bawled, grasping at the front of his jacket this time. “Please, I don’t want to go back.”

“I know. I know, but you have to. You have to keep going so I can go with you.” Simon’s voice consoled.

The blood. The screaming. The agony and pain. The fury. The fear.

It all faded away at the sound of his voice.

“I’m sorry you have to do this. Please, just look at me. Just a bit longer.”

I dared to open them, and slowly Simon was flashing from him to that crowd. They had begun kneeling.

“I know you’ll never forget me. Why the hell would you be rallying an army if you were going to?” he half-heartedly chuckled. “But you have to go now.”

“No. No, please.” I begged, printing my hands to his face.

“I can’t do it alone. Without you, I can’t.”

“You’re never alone. You have them.” he wordlessly referred to the tens of thousands of protesters. “And you will always have me.”

He reached for my own jacket’s pocket and pulled out a small, white box. The box had a couple of dark red splotches dashed on it, and I felt sick looking at it. But the second he opened it, the second his smile returned, I could only focus on him.

He took out the small, diamond ring I had spent months saving up for, the small token of everything that ever mattered, the small vow that never got spoken simply because of a wrong turn at the wrong place at the wrong time.

He handed it to me, and I gingerly took it, examining it like it would fall apart like grains of sand in my hand. After a minute of observation, I took his left hand and let it adorn his finger. Let it speak the unspoken words that I never got the chance to speak, all because a white officer took things far too far.

We both sat in silence, me refusing to take my hand away from his as my tears dropped on the ring like rain hitting the stones along it. Suddenly, the city seemed too loud and the world seemed too dark. The realization had settled in.

This ring would never adorn his real finger.

I was hours too late.

_Sing on, just a little while longer._

“You aren’t just fighting for me, either.”

“No.” I choked. “You’re not the only one.”

“So go. Go and win. Lead them to peace.”

“‘An eye for an eye and the world goes blind’.” I recited, knowing that the fight would never end without the violence I so desperately wanted to avoid.

“You aren’t taking another eye. You’re taking yours back.”

I stared at his face. His smile was somber and his own tears had begun falling.

“I should’ve saved you.”

“No.” he shook his head slowly, as if it were weighed by a million years of knowledge. “Then you wouldn’t be able to save them.” he nodded behind me.

I turned briefly to see a small, black child laughing with his sister and father, chasing each other through a dark world. Being each other’s light.

I turned back to see him for the last time.

“They deserve a life more than that broken system could give them.” he grinned tearfully, pinching his eyes closed before opening them and watching me softly.

“Go on. Pave the way.” he hummed, reaching his now ringed hand to my cheek. I pressed into it so firmly and stifled more sobs, knowing this was the final goodbye.

“I’ll see you later, okay? Just- please be awhile.”

I nodded slowly, silently praying not to wake up. “Okay, Simon. Okay.”

When my eyelashes once again reminded me of the cruelties of reality, and fluttered open, I was greeted by a line of officers.

I felt the pressure of a megaphone in one hand and a sign in the other. A sign that I now remembered said, Justice for Simon Hart, Justice for my Love. I looked over my shoulder to see the tens of thousands of protesters, all of different races and genders and colors.

“Everything will be alright.” they sang together, before all turning their eyes to me.

A world of unjust suddenly returned itself to my shoulders as I looked back to the officers, all armed with rubber bullets, tear gas, shields, and more.

As I slowly raised the megaphone to my mouth, and the sign high above my head, I sang softly into the speaker the last line of my lovers favorite song, and his last words he whispered as he laid dying in my arms from a gunshot wound to the chest. A bullet that an officer fired. An officer who remained in the very office we stood in front of.

The tears streamed as the lyrics left my lips, crackly and broken from the sobs.

_“Everything will be alright.”_

**Author's Note:**

> The gospel song in this story is Hold On Just A Little While Longer by Rev. Cleophus Robinson Jr.  
> This story was intended to bring awareness to the current BLM and ACAB movement. While the characters in this story are fictional, they are meant to deeply reflect the black community in their realism. There is a linktr.ee in my bio with petitions and places to donate in the Do The Right Thing list for all sorts of social injustice movements, including BLM. Please take some time to sign some of those petitons and donate ONLY if you are able.  
> Justice for Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Tony McDade, and many more.  
> Black Lives Matter, All Cops Are Bastards.  
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
